David Ewan Marr FAHA (born 13 July 1947) is an Australian journalist, author, and progressive political and social commentator.

[citation needed] He began as a journalist working for The Bulletin magazine and The National Times newspaper in 1972 before being appointed editor in 1980.

[3] During this period, he oversaw publication of the articles by David Hickie, which detailed long-suppressed allegations of corruption against former New South Wales premier Robert Askin.

It won the NSW Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction,[6] but was received poorly by its subject, who accused the author of fabricating quotes.

[citation needed] In 2002 Marr stated on Media Watch that conservative newspaper columnist Janet Albrechtsen had misquoted a French psychiatrist, Jean-Jacques Rassial [fr], and claimed that she had done this deliberately to make it look as though violence and gang rape were institutionalised elements of the culture of Muslim youths.

[8] Albrechtsen did not deny the misquote, but responded by accusing Media Watch of inherent left-wing bias and of deliberately leading a witch-hunt against contrary views.

When the Minister for Communications, Senator Helen Coonan, appointed Albrechtsen to the board of the ABC in February 2005, Marr publicly questioned whether she was qualified for such a position in light of what he described as "breaches of proper conduct as a commentator and as a journalist".